


This World Inverted

by danrdarrenc



Category: Days of Our Lives
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, also AU, mentions of Sonny/Paul
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 08:42:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11144901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danrdarrenc/pseuds/danrdarrenc
Summary: "I feel like I’m in the wrong world. ‘Cause I don’t belong in a world where we don’t end up together. I don’t. There are parallel universes out there where this didn’t happen. Where I was with you and you were with me. And whatever universe that is, that’s the one that my heart lives in.""You said goodbye to me, the world told me it’s the final goodbye but standing by the door watching you leave for the final time I couldn’t whisper goodbye to you and I haven’t, some nights I dream about how you left, some mornings I tell myself you are gone in disbelief. Sometimes I hope to find you in a parallel universe, somewhere, some corner in this big universe we would meet again and everything will be alright."Will and Sonny each reflect on the status of their lives at the lake at different points in time in 2015. Each of them wonders if they can glimpse a world where things are different. Maybe they can.





	This World Inverted

**Author's Note:**

> This is canon compliant but is also an AU, literally.

_Salem, October 2015_

As he watches the pallbearers lower his husband’s coffin into the ground, Sonny feels like he’s living someone else’s life. 

The phone call from Victor that Will had been murdered had been an out-of-body experience for Sonny of the kind he hoped never to experience again. That hadn’t been entirely achieved; Sonny has sleepwalked through the four days in Salem leading up to Will’s funeral, every place he goes haunted by another memory of Will.

Sonny turns away as dirt begins covering the coffin. His heart constricts painfully in his chest, his guilt bubbling nastily in his stomach, and his throat tightens up, making it hard to breathe. He strolls absentmindedly away from St. Luke’s unsure where he’s going, not caring where’s he ends up. As he walks, Sonny realizes how unsteady he feels; he’d spoken the truth when he’d said in his vows that Will was his anchor. 

It feels strange to Sonny to be walking in a Salem, in a world, in which Will no longer exists. Even though things had been bad between him and Will when he’d left for Paris two months ago, Sonny had taken comfort in the fact that Will was out there somewhere in Salem. Even 4,000 miles away, Will had still kept Sonny grounded. In retrospect, he knew it hadn’t been fair for him to leave Will hanging, to leave Will without a good explanation, and to expect Will to wait for him, especially since he hadn’t known when he’d left if he’d ever come back. 

He realizes now how foolish he’d been, running away to Paris the way he had, without resolving things with Will. If he’s honest with himself, Sonny knows he was always planning to fix his marriage. He just hadn’t planned on it being too late. 

It feels wrong to Sonny, dirty even, having to live out the rest of his life without Will. Ever since the day they had met on the pier, Sonny had known Will was the love of his life. Even when they were just friends, when he was still getting over Paul and Will was struggling to figure out who he was, Sonny had known at his very core that he would end up with Will. It never occurred to him that there could ever be a time when he and Will wouldn’t be together.

Sonny stops walking when he reaches the edge of the lake. It’s a beautiful mid-October dusk and the air smells of pumpkin and fallen leaves. The orange of the setting sun reflects and sparkles off ripples made by the slight breeze, but Sonny finds no peace in the beauty. The solitude he had sought by slipping away from the burial weighs on his shoulders the way the Earth must have weighed on Atlas’. All he finds is a crushing sadness. 

Sonny takes a shuddering breath and watches the leaves on the trees across the lake rustle in the light wind. He imagines he can see a parallel universe in the fabric of the horizon where Will is alive and things are distinctly not _this_.

* * *

_Salem, August 2015_

Will knows as he watches Sonny leave the apartment for Paris that their marriage is over. 

There is no kiss goodbye, barely a hug. Just an “I can’t be here anymore.” Will has seen this before, with his mother and her many men, watched them walk out the door without a word and no plan for coming back.

In the weeks that follow, Will’s family and friends tell him that Sonny just needs space, that he loves Will, that he will come back soon. Will nods and humors them, and then goes home every night to an apartment empty but for his two year old daughter. 

At night, Will dreams about everything that happened, ugly distortions of the already ugly truth, Paul taunting him, Sonny’s face permanently twisted in anger, Sonny throwing his wedding ring in the trash can on the way out the door. In the mornings, Will awakes screaming, reaching out to reassure himself it was all a nightmare, only to find the other side of the bed cold, realization dawning that it was all reality after all.

Some days, after the nightmares have been particularly bad, Will drives out to the lake and takes a slow walk around the water’s edge. With Ari at Lucas’, Will finds solitude, if not solace, in the early morning quiet of dawn. He watches the sun rise over the tops of the trees and turns his face into the not-quite-summer-not-quite-autumn breeze.

As sunlight pokes through the branches thick with green leaves just starting to turn gold, Will imagines he catches a glimpse of a parallel universe in the fabric of the horizon where Sonny is still in Salem and things are decidedly not _this_.

* * *

_Salem, 2015_

“August is my favorite month,” Will said to Sonny as they strolled around the lake, hand-in-hand.

“Is it because August is when we first kissed?” Sonny asked cheekily.

“For your information, buddy, we kissed for the first time in September.”

“No - no! After the explosion, when you ran away and got Gabi pregnant,” Sonny said, poking Will in the chest with his free hand.

Will grinned.

“Is this your way of telling me we have different ideas of what our first kiss is?” Will asked.

Sonny grinned this time. “No. I’m just telling you that in my opinion we have two first kisses.”

Will’s smile faded slowly from his face. “I do too, you know.”

Sonny looked at him, confused, although his lips were still turned up in a small smile.

“In my opinion we have two first kisses, too. Only for me, our second first kiss was three weeks and two days ago when you told me that you chose me. That was a new beginning for us and it felt like our first kiss all over again.”

Sonny turned serious, coming to a standstill and turning to face his husband, his eyes searching Will’s. “I meant it, you know. I’m committed to our marriage and our life together. What I said in my vows hasn’t changed. You, me, and Ari, our little family, the three of us against the world, I want it so much. It is the greatest adventure I’ve ever had.”

“Even greater than your secret year with Paul?” There was no bitterness or jealousy in Will’s question, just curiosity. 

Sonny snorted in amusement. “Being with Paul in San Francisco was like walking through a fun house. I never knew if or when we were going to get caught or what curveballs - no pun intended - we were going to get thrown at us. But I always knew it was going to end. You and me is like…like owning a home. Something permanent and tangible that will always be there no matter what.” 

“You didn’t always think that though. Isn’t that why you…” Will trailed off. 

“Why I had an affair with Paul for six months while you were in LA?” Sonny finished quietly.

Will nodded but held Sonny’s gaze. They’d discussed Sonny’s affair before, of course, but Will still needed to hear Sonny’s affirmation that things were okay.

“That was never about you. I’m not sure it was even about us. It was about me resolving my feelings for Paul. I always knew you’d come back.”

“I wasn’t,” Will admitted.

Sonny’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

“I mean, that you’d come back to me,” Will clarified.

“You’re the love of my life, Will. Nothing could ever change that. And anyway, shouldn’t I be the one grateful that  _you’re_ here?” 

Will’s lips twitched at the ends. “If I’ve learned anything from my parents, it’s that love and marriage aren’t easy but they’re worth fighting for. I can’t tell you how many times when I was kid I thought they were going to break up but then I woke up the next morning and they had somehow set things right between them.”

Sonny’s eyes twinkled, from the reflection of the setting sun or tears, Will wasn’t sure. Swallowing back his emotions, Sonny closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to Will’s. 

When they broke apart, his lips turned up in a crooked smile, Sonny said, “So I guess we both consider us having had a first kiss in both August and September.”

Will threw his head back in laughter and started walking around the lake again, pulling Sonny by the hand behind him.

* * * * * * * * * * *

“My dad said the PD thinks it might be a serial killer,” Sonny said, tracing circles on Will’s chest. “Same MO.”

Serena Mason and Paige Larsen had both been found dead with ties around their necks in the span of the last two weeks. Marlena, too, had almost been a victim. 

“God. That’s so scary to think about,” Will said, unconsciously holding Sonny a little tighter.

“You were around for the last one, right?” 

Will nodded. “I was little but yeah. I vaguely remember it. Practically my whole family was killed. Or, well, we thought they were killed. And Grandma Marlena was framed as the killer.” Will chuckled. “Mom and Dad were almost eaten by a tiger,” Will added as an afterthought. 

“Is that the blood wedding Kate is so fond of talking about?” Sonny asked.

Will grinned. “I can still picture her walking out of the kitchen with Grandpa Roman’s blood on her wedding dress.”

“Your parents are step-siblings,” Sonny said randomly.

Will laughed. “They try not to think about it too much. When they do, they say they were married first so it’s not creepy.”

Sonny buried his face in Will’s chest, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

“Do they have any idea who it might be?” Will asked, changing the subject back to the present.

Sonny shook his head against Will’s shoulder. 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“You don’t really think it could be Chad, do you?” Will asked Sonny over the phone. 

Will was in Ben and Abigail’s apartment, doing them a favor and waiting for the plumber. While he was waiting, Sonny had called him with the news Rafe and Hope had arrested Chad and that Justin was in the process of charging him with murder and attempted murder.

“I don’t know,” Sonny said a little wearily. 

“Come on, Sonny. He’s your best friend! I’ve known him since we were fourteen.” Will paced anxiously across the length of the apartment. “I can’t believe it’s him.” 

“My dad says they’ve got a pretty good case.”

Will sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “God, what purpose would he have? Ow.”

“What?” 

“Nothing. Nothing,” Will mumbled. “I just kicked over the trash -”

“What? Will, what?” Sonny asked, panicked at Will’s abrupt silence.

“Sonny,” Will said slowly. “I need you to hang up with me.”

“Why?”

“I need you to call your dad and Rafe and send them here. Tell them Chad is innocent and Ben is the Necktie Killer.”

“I’m going to do this but I need you to get out of there, Will. Before Ben gets back.”

“I need to be here when the cops get here.”  
  
“No, Will! You need to leave. Please!” Sonny said hysterically. 

“Alright. I’ll leave the apartment but I’m not going far. I need to make sure Ben doesn’t come home and throw the tie away,” Will said, even as he left the apartment. “I’m in the hallway, okay? Hang up and get your dad.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Will!” 

Will barely had time to turn away from Rafe to whom he was giving a statement before Sonny barreled into him, throwing his arms around Will’s neck. Will caught his husband with an ‘oof’ and buried his nose in Sonny’s shoulder.

“I’m okay,” Will whispered. 

“Are you sure,” Sonny asked anxiously, pulling away to examine Will. “Did he hurt you?”

Will shook his head. “Rafe and Hope got here before he could do anything. He confessed it to me, though. Said he wanted to put Chad away for Abigail’s sake.”

“Bastard,” Sonny said and pulled Will into another tight hug.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“I love the lake in the fall,” Will said, as he and Sonny strolled around the water’s edge with Ari propped on Will’s hip.

“I’ve always loved it when the leaves change,” Sonny answered.

Will smiled softly at his husband. He put Ari down to walk, since she had begun to wriggle in his arms. When he’d straightened up, Will laced his fingers with Sonny’s and together they watched their daughter waddle her way across the grass chasing birds and butterflies.

“There’s a certain peacefulness and beauty to October,” Will said. “It’s not summer anymore but it’s not winter yet. Everything smells like hot chocolate and pumpkins and cinnamon.” 

“And Halloween is a cheap excuse to play dress up,” Sonny smirked.

“Excuse me, but I have an almost three year old daughter who demands the world dress up in costumes always,” Will answered, mock offended.

Sonny grinned and squeezed Will’s hand. Turning serious, Sonny said quietly, “I’m just glad you’re here to celebrate Halloween.”

Will looked at his husband who was resolutely staring straight ahead, watching Ari prance along the lake’s shore. Will stopped walking, pulling Sonny up short next to him.

“Hey,” Will said softly. “I’m okay. Nothing happened.”

“It could have though.” 

“But it didn’t,” Will said again more firmly, turning to face Sonny and taking Sonny’s free hand with his own.

“I don’t know what I would have done if Rafe and Hope had gotten there five minutes later,” Sonny said. “If I lost you so soon after we promised to make a new start together….”

“Hey, hey. Shhh,” Will cooed, wrapping Sonny’s arms around his waist and then circling his own arms around Sonny’s neck. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Sonny buried his nose in the crook of Will’s neck and breathed him in. “I love you so much, Will.”

“I love you, too.”

Sonny lifted his head from Will’s shoulder to bring their lips together. Will smiled into the kiss and tightened his grip around Sonny’s neck, as Sonny pulled him closer by the waist, closing whatever gap there was left between them.

After a minute, they broke apart at the sound of splashing. Alarmed, Will and Sonny both turned their attention to Arianna who had begun entertaining herself by jumping up and down in the shallowest part of the lake.

Will pressed a soft kiss to Sonny’s cheek, laced their fingers together once more, and started towards Ari, Sonny at his side. 


End file.
